…the usage of sprinkled gold powder is specifically denoted in Japanese as kintsugi (“to patch with gold”) or kintsukuroi (“to repair with gold”). Additionally, these words are also used to refer to lacquer restored with silver powder, so in this context it would be more appropriate to use the phrases “to patch with metal” or “to repair with metal”.
This is the third time this word has crossed my path. The first time was at an Art Journalling workshop I attended for sometime. I found it very hard to conceive that brokenness can be made beautiful - especially mine.
The second time was last year when I went down to TLC campus for a week-long Life Casting Workshop with Mel Ford. She is a ceramic artist who takes the broken (pottery) and makes it into something new. Still sitting with the "I'm not sure how this works for me" thinking...and then the third time was today.
Today, talking with my new TLC mentor - Andrew. He made a reference to it and it got me thinking about its signifigance. Kintsugi: The Art of Embracing Damage This YouTube clip explains the practice well and I found it really interesting.
Another website explains it like this....While the general Western consensus on broken objects is that they have lost their value, practitioners and admirers of kintsugi believe that never-ending consumerism is not a spiritually rewarding experience. The kintsugi method conveys a philosophy not of replacement, but of awe, reverence, and restoration. The gold-filled cracks of a once-broken item are a testament to its history. Shimode points out that “The importance in kintsugi is not the physical appearance, it is… the beauty and the importance [that] stays in the one who is looking at the dish.”
What an interesting concept...one I'm still digesting.
~o0o~
What an interesting concept...one I'm still digesting.
~o0o~
